Right There
by ZombieJazz
Summary: O/S of the hand question mark when spun into the AU of Liv/Will/Noah. The events of Season 14's ep Presumed Guilty throw a bit of a wrench into Liv's Christmas plans with her family. Can her and Nick put aside some differences so she still ends up spending the holidays with her husband and son on their planned vacation? Story 7 of series (sort of).
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Right There**

**Author: ZombieJazz**

**Fandom: Law & Order: SVU**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Will (and his family) and Noah have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.**

**Summary: Episode 10's hand question mark when spun into the AU of Liv/Will/Noah.**

**Author's Notes: This AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. This story would be set likely after where Rollercoaster will end when it's wrapped up. **

She sighed. She could feel Will's agitation through the phone.

"Just get on the plane – and I'll meet you down there tomorrow," she pressed at him again.

"Liv? Seriously? You think you're going to be able to transfer your ticket on Christmas Eve and then get on a plane going out on Christmas Day," he shot back through the phone.

She could almost feel his anger. She could hear the traffic noise in the background and some of the babbles from Noah – his requests to get to speak to her, that Will was clearly ignoring. She wouldn't mind speaking to her son. It'd likely be better than talking to Will at the moment. Though handling his disappointment would be harder.

"No one travels on Christmas Day," she responded back trying to keep her calm.

"Well, then there must be room for all of us," Will said. "I'll call the ticket agent and get us all transferred to a flight for tomorrow."

She sighed again and rubbed at her eyebrow. "Will – we don't have anything at the house. Noah's expecting Christmas in the Bahamas …"

He cut her off before she could even get her "just go" out of her mouth. "Noah's expecting Christmas with his mother. I can't believe you're doing this."

"Will …"

"It's Christmas!" he spat out into her with such force it reverberated in her eardrum. "You're just going to miss that? For the fucking job?"

She heard Noah say "SWEAR JAR!" in the background and Will lowered his voice again.

"We've been planning this for months," Will said more quietly.

"I know, sweetheart. But I got saddled with the holiday weekend shift. I haven't worked around the Christmas holidays for years. It's my turn – I need to get this wrapped up and then I'll be on the next plane."

"There's lots of other people there who could be handling this," Will said. "Who don't have a little boy at home."

She sighed. "They have families too."

"Yeah. And what am I supposed to tell Noah? What about the newbies? Didn't you say your partner doesn't get his kid this year and Amanda isn't even going home?"

"Will stop it," she sighed and looked down at her desk again. "Just … get on the plane. I'm getting off the phone now. The sooner I get off and get this done – the sooner I'll be right behind you guys."

"I can't believe you're doing this …" Will said again into her ear. His hurt, upset and disappointment were palpable.

"Just … call me when you land," she said. "When you get to the resort."

He didn't respond and an uncomfortable silence hung between them.

"Love you," she offered.

"Yeah," he said quietly but didn't return the sentiment. "Merry Christmas," he mumbled and then him and the background noise cut out and he was gone.

She still sat with the phone at her ear for several seconds – almost expecting him to have more to say or for him to hand off the phone to Noah or for some easy solution to present itself so she could justify getting up from her desk and leaving. But the silence of the dead line continued to hang there and eventually she slowly lowered the phone from her ear and looked at it for several beats before opening her desk drawer and dropping it inside.

She sighed and looked back at her paperwork – continuing her efforts to get it done and her wait for the phone call so she could start her next step of getting the warrant. Then someone would have to go and pick up the priest – and THEN she'd feel comfortable cutting out and going and meeting her family for the holidays.

She glanced up as Nick wandered back into the squad making listening noises into his own cell – and then watched as he turned it off and looked over in her direction.

"That was Fin," Amaro informed her. "Sam's free. He's on his way home."

She felt a wave of relief wash over her that likely betrayed itself on her face. But she still allowed herself to let out the smile and the audible sigh.

"A Christmas miracle," she muttered.

Nick glanced at his watch and returned the smile. "And you'll make your flight," he said with a genuine amount of happiness for her.

But it just made the whole situation and the disappointment in Will's voice – her own disappointment, the devastation she knew Noah would be feeling – set in with her again. The smile faded from her face.

She didn't know what she was doing either – in a way. How she was justifying missing a Christmas with her son – and a special Christmas that her and Will had been planning for months and months. The reality was, though, between her having a child and Noah being sick – the squad and the captain had been very accommodating with her taking time away around the holidays for years. It was different now – with the amount of scrutiny the squad was under and the new players in the room.

She hadn't been as open with Nick and Amanda about everything her family was dealing with – even though they knew the base details. They didn't know the nitty-gritty of it – not like Elliot had. And, John was hardly ever around anymore and Fin – was Fin. He went through phases of being very supportive and phases of being pretty self-involved. Of course, her giving some attitude the past few days likely hadn't helped her case now in wanting to escape desk duty on Christmas Eve and get on a plane with her family.

Things were only made worse in that the Captain was cracking the whip more than he ever had and making sure they all kept to their marching orders. Of course, he'd taken some time off over the holidays. But that only meant she was technically in charge, making it that much more difficult for her to just bail.

She needed to be there. It was her job – and, really, it was her turn. Everyone else had done their holiday duty. She'd had a break from it for years. It was just her time.

She thought her and Will were at a point – had been together long enough – that he understood that. He knew how the job worked – the good and the bad of it. But, she supposed it was sometimes hard to understand or accept after everything – when they'd gotten used to a different routine and leeway with Noah. Sometimes she thought they all felt too much like they should get special privileges and as those privileges slowly melted away as they settled more back into 'normal' life – they all had trouble accepting the actual breadth people around them had given them to ensure they'd gotten by the best they could.

Still – missing Christmas with your child was hard. But, if she was lucky – she should likely still be down there by about noon on Christmas Day. She hopefully wouldn't have missed too much.

She looked back to the work in front of her. "Yeah, I'm not going anywhere until we get a warrant for Menendez from Judge Harrison," she said.

Now Nick looked annoyed at her – and sounded almost as annoyed as Will had on the phone. Actually, he sounded a little angry – like her staying was some sort of indication that he was incapable of doing the job. That really wasn't the case, though, it was just that it was her job that night – not his.

"Liv, go," he spat at her. "I've got this."

She shook her head. "Can't."

Nick came storming towards her desk. "You put off your vacation until there are no bad guys left …"

She glanced at him and shook her head trying to find the words to justify it. If it was this hard doing it with Nick she was glad she'd only had to do it on the phone with Will and hadn't had to see his face and his eyes and the tension and upset in his body language. He would've won the verbal battle for sure. She wouldn't have been able to disappoint him like that if they'd been in the same room.

Nick leaned against the edge of her desk – almost getting into her face the same way they did perps.

"Haven't you told me before that on this job you need to figure out ways to be there – or you're going to miss it? That your husband gets to be the cool dad while you're always the one disappointing your kid?"

"Look – I know, I know …" she muttered but couldn't seem to put together a larger argument.

She stared off for a moment. It was things she'd told Nick before – trying to calm him a bit in some moments where he'd been upset at being pulled away from time with his daughter for something on the job. Her own venting about balancing parenthood with being a sex crimes detective – something that never really seemed to get easier. And, really it had become more daunting and more frustrating as she phased back into regular life and more full-time and consistent work in Noah's recovery.

She didn't really want to think about it. But all she could see was Will and Noah on their way to the airport and their excitement fading with the realization that she wouldn't be meeting them there, they wouldn't be getting on the plane together and they wouldn't be having Christmas morning together. What she really wanted was to be with her husband and son.

The bang at her desk drawer snapped her out of it and she glanced over a little shocked at Nick as he riffled through her things.

"Alright, you know what," he said, as he snatched her phone and keys from her drawer and grabbed her purse from where she'd placed on the chair next to her workspace. He dropped the bag and held out the keys and iPhone. "This is my Christmas gift."

She gaped at him a moment – processing it and thinking about it. Even now she found it so hard to walk away from the job – from the paperwork, her desk, the bad guys. But it wasn't where she wanted to be that night.

She wanted to see her son's excitement about the trip and Christmas. She wanted to watch the lights along the coast as the plane flew south. She wanted to feel the warm humid air and the island breezes as they got off the plane. She wanted to be with Will and Noah as they saw their suite at the resort for the first time. She wanted to dig out the couple Santa gifts and stocking stuffers from the bottom of her and Will's suitcase and stash them in their living area of the suite in the elaborate rouse that Noah didn't really believe anymore anyways but she wasn't quite ready to give up on yet; he was still so little and deserved the magic even if he didn't want to believe it. She wanted to get to hold her husband and share a drink together and toast getting through another year. She wanted to hope that Noah would be exhausted enough from the trip and the late night – that it would beat out his excitement about Christmas and the beach and pools and waterslides and swimming in the ocean and the booking to swim with dolphins and his hopes of finally getting to touch a stingray – and that he'd pass out. She wanted to convince herself that her and Will wouldn't be so exhausted that they'd just fall into bed – and instead they could take advantage of a nice room, hopefully a locking door, a little bit of alcohol in their systems and holiday cheer and that they could make love while not on a schedule dictated by Noah and appointments and work and fatigue.

"Really?" she asked quietly, knowing her voice was likely betraying her a bit again.

"Yeah, really," Nick said and grabbed her coat from the back of her chair as she stood. "Com'on."

He gave her a bit of a sad look as she turned around and he moved to help her pull the jacket up her arms. She knew it was likely hard for him that year – to be away from his daughter and wife. He hadn't taken off his ring despite his and Maria's separation.

Olivia knew Nick had had Zara for the weekend. But he'd likely missed most of it because he was in working the case just like her. That was time he wasn't going to get back – and not something that any of them had stepped in to try to make easier for him to ensure he got some moments with his little girl when he wasn't going to get to see her excitement on Christmas morning. He was missing it. That time in his daughter's childhood was slipping away from him – and Olivia knew Nick was feeling it and becoming more hurt by it every day. But at the same time, she knew he could likely use the distraction that night and into the next day – so he wasn't at home in an empty house, thinking about his daughter and his wife and Christmases past and what he was missing that year.

"I want jewelry next year," she tried to tease, trying to break both of their gloom a bit. To show her appreciation, to try to get a small smile from him – if only for a moment. It worked.

Nick let out a small, withheld, breathy laugh – and graced her with the thinnest of smile as she turned back around.

Will had made a habit of giving her gifts of jewelry – of varying degrees of money he shouldn't be spending, especially on her. Especially since most of it was even occasion related – it was just because. Or so he claimed. She really didn't think he would be walking or riding home from work and just decide to randomly step into a jewelry shop and drop that kind of money. That wasn't Will. He was a planner. He'd save and budget for things and shop around. But maybe it was the fact that he was giving up parts of the little bit of free and private time he did get to pick out a 'just because' gift for her made it more special.

He'd already given her her Christmas gift that year – mostly because – they'd stressed to Noah that the trip and some of the activities they'd be doing in the Bahamas was the family's Christmas present. That Santa would still bring him something and fill his stocking – but he wouldn't be getting gifts from Mommy and Daddy that year. They hadn't thought it would be appropriate for them to exchange gifts in front of Noah – and really, Liv had argued that the trip should be their trip to each other too.

It would be nice to not worry about gift buying for one year. Buying gifts and exchanging them with Will's family always just took so much time, effort and money – even with all these little rules and games and budgets his family had in place to supposedly make it more cost effective and reasonable. She actually found it all the more stressful and confusing. Secret Santas and gift grabbing games and drawing names and how something worked for nieces and nephews and other rules for the brothers and sisters-in-law – and then there was trying to think or do something for his parents. It was all a little much – considering for years she really hadn't had anyone to buy for and for years more she just had to get a few things for Noah. The whole big family gift-giving extravaganzas was something she could do without – and that was even when her and Will had retreated from some of his family's structure and chaos to have their own traditions.

And, even getting beyond his family's Christmas traditions – just buying for Will always stressed her out. She always felt like he seemed to come up with much more thoughtful and meaningful gifts for her than she ever could for him. She couldn't just buy Will a nice pair earrings and a lot of Will's interests were either frivolous or what he wanted or needed fell well outside the budget they set for each other. Not that Will ever seemed to pay much attention to the budget and just did what he wanted. It also drove her a little crazy.

Even if she did want to go outside budget and buy him some TV or racing bicycle – she didn't know enough about either to really know what to buy. Will was so nit-picky when it came to his electronics and sports equipment – and his preferences on what he thought he might buy some day seemed to change nearly weekly. So she didn't really want to drop a wad of cash on the 'wrong' item – even though she knew that Will would be appreciative even if it wasn't the chosen thing on that particular day of the week. She also certainly wasn't going to go out and drop hundreds of dollars on some vintage comic book or signed baseball or action figure that she knew he might be excited to receive but would just end up on a shelf or in a drawer – and never even be taken out of its packaging because that would destroy its worth.

Basically – buying for him was awful. She usually ended up getting him clothes and a book – unless she had some sort of epic brainwave or ran across something that jumped off the shelf at her. That rarely happened. So Will's presents were always rather boring and practical while he lavished her with nicer things that she'd never be able to justify buying for herself – not anymore, not after having a child and not after having to deal with never-ending medical bills and debt.

Still, he'd countered her protests and insisted that he liked getting to do an exchange at Christmas. They so rarely did any sort of official exchange. She usually felt that they both had better things to spend their money on than each other – and really, she just didn't have the time to be going in-and-out of stores or trolling the internet looking for gift options. He'd won the argument, though. Mostly because she knew even if she continued to say no he'd still end up giving her something and then she'd feel like a heel when she had nothing to return to him.

He'd given her the bracelet one morning early in the week while they were both getting dressed.

She'd groaned a bit when he first handed to her.

"What's this?" she'd asked – like she didn't know.

He shrugged. "Your Christmas gift. Open it."

It had only prompted her to sigh. She didn't have to open it to know that it was another piece of jewelry. Worse was that she hadn't even managed to get as far as finding the time – or wrapping paper – to have Will's ready to give to him yet. She was actually almost impressed that she'd managed to get as far as having found a gift and bought it with still five days to go before they left on their holiday. A new cycling jersey and geeky-themed. Something he'd never buy for himself but that he'd like and wear – and it was practical for his interests.

She supposed it wasn't like he was handing her gift to her wrapped either. It was just the store's box he'd placed in her hand. Still she wasn't sure she was ready to hand over his yet. She wasn't sure she was completely done shopping. She'd been planning to try to get into the gear shop to pick up one of the training calendars that he seemed to like having in hard-copy more than any app on his phone or computer. She just hadn't had the chance yet. But she'd wanted to get it to make sure he had it for the start of the New Year – she knew he'd want it and she hadn't seen on materialize to indicate that he'd picked one up for himself yet.

Exams had gone right up until the past Friday and Will had been a tizzy with marking and proctoring and then had ended up dealing with most of the laundry and packing on the family's behalf on the weekend with her at work. He really hadn't had a chance to get out and about much on his own that month – even if he had wanted to. Part of her wanted to be impressed that he'd managed to have his Christmas shopping done for her that early – but at the same time, that wasn't surprising. That was Will. She procrastinated in those kinds of areas and he always had his ducks in a row – ready to go and ahead of schedule.

Nick had been quick to notice her new addition in jewelry. It made her wonder briefly how often he did actually notice those kinds of things. She thought more often than she wanted to know. Her partner was good at reading people and picking up on things. Especially in women – a self-proclaimed strength of just what he did. She wasn't sure she liked his charm switch but she would give him that he was very observant.

Still, she thought it bugged her on some level. There were times anymore that her emotions and her looks just betrayed her and she didn't like to think her partner took that much notice of it. Elliot certainly hadn't. She often had to be near a meltdown before he'd acknowledge something was wrong and maybe she wanted to or needed to talk. But maybe now, with everything that had gone on, she was at the age-and-stage in her life that she just didn't bother putting up as many walls anymore.

Keeping people that far out and at arm's length could be so exhausting. She had enough on her plate. Hiding her happiness at home wasn't something to add to the list of things she wanted to keep out-of-sight at work. She'd spent enough time trying to do that in the first weeks and months of Nick and Amanda's arrival. It was tiresome. They knew now: she was married, she had a kid, her kid was sick, but she had a good home life – a happy one. There wasn't much more she needed to say at work about it – expect on those days that Will or Noah or both of them were driving her a little bonkers. But she tried her best to keep all of that out of work, though, she didn't need to keep them so far removed that they knew next to nothing. They were allowed to know she was content. She'd worked long and hard to get to that point. She deserved it. She didn't want to have to hide it.

But she supposed the appearance of a bracelet was fairly glaring. She didn't usually wear bracelets. So there was that. Then, perhaps, more telling was how much she'd been playing with it that week. Likely, partially because she wasn't used to having a bracelet hanging off of that wrist – and partially because it was a gift from Will. She always ended up fingering at and fiddling with the jewelry he gave her. It was like she was trying to absorb some of his strength and comfort while he wasn't around. She'd been working at breaking the habit of fiddling with the chains around her neck – a tell that she hated she had. But she wasn't sure switching to twisting around the bracelet and its little beads and running her fingers along the smooth silver cross was much of an improvement.

"Kid make you a bracelet?" Nick had commented a little snarky earlier in the week, while they'd been sitting at the bullpen's case table and reviewing some surveillance tape together.

She supposed she'd been twisting at the beads again and it had drawn his attention to the addition – if he hadn't noticed it already. More likely – he was just annoyed that she was restlessly fidgeting next to him while he was trying to concentrate. He'd snapped at her about it on other occasions before. But what annoyed her in that particular moment was how he referred to her son. Nick almost always referred to her son as 'kid' or 'the kid'. Not 'your son', not 'Noah'. Just a random pronoun like he wasn't any different or any more important to her than any other child she interacted with in any given week. She always referred to his daughter as such – or by her name, Zara – when she thought it was actually safe to ask about how the little girl was doing, which didn't seem to be very often anymore.

She'd glanced at the bracelet and stilled her opposite hand – letting it fall away. She thought about not responding. She had known he was kind of being an ass and just trying to make a point and get her to sit stiller at the table. But for whatever reason, she had allowed: "No, it's from Will. My Christmas present."

She guessed she didn't really like the suggestion that it looked juvenile enough to be a little boy's Christmas art project – not when she knew Will put time, thought and effort into picking it out for her. Again, it likely wouldn't have been something she would've picked herself. But most of the jewelry Will picked for her ever was. Still, he'd come to know her tastes and preferences. He understood what she considered work jewelry versus home jewelry versus special occasion jewelry versus date night jewelry. She actually probably drove him a little crazy with it. It likely contributed to the fact that Will always picked simple pieces. They were usually beautiful – but always simple. Likely a reflection of their relationship. They'd always tried to keep it simple – to varying degrees of success.

This bracelet was no different in its simplicity. The knotted leather braced the little beads leading up to the cross (to protect against evil and a source of strength and faith, he'd told her. Will near always explained his reasoning behind the symbolism of any of the pieces he got her – much like he had a story and a reason for each of the ink representations he had all over his body). There was basic button closure at the end of the soft rope that he helped loop around her wrist after she opened it and admired it in their bedroom.

It was a piece of jewelry that she'd wear at work – but would also feel comfortable in at home and having around the restless fiddling of her son's hands that had seemed to grab at and examine her jewelry since he was little more than an infant. His fascination had intensified as it became a touchstone and a distraction for them in their endless hospital trips and hours waiting for doctors.

Noah was old enough now – and in his observations of hers – it had reached the point where he'd been given his own chains and his own bracelets. Some of it hers, some of it Will's, some of it new gifts for him. Noah had inherited her nervous tell of fiddling with it all too. As a mother, though, it was a useful tool – another sign to gauge how her son was feeling and what he was thinking.

"Looks more like an Easter present," Nick had muttered.

Again, she should've let it drop. But Nick had been in such a horrid mood that week and it had been rubbing off on the rest of the squad. It was upsetting her.

She usually tried to keep any of happiness and contentment she might be experiencing in her home and family life guarded from him anymore. Initially, as she had gotten to know Nick, she'd been almost pleased to have a partner with a child a similar age as hers – a parent who didn't seem to be on such a high horse about his parenting abilities and father-knows-best attitude. They'd shared some things about their children and marriages and the job. They had some sort of connection. A lot of that had faded in his separation and Maria moving his daughter off to DC.

She knew what it was like to feel the turmoil of your life – or what it had become – around the holidays. She had enough years where it had been hard to listen to Elliot talk about everything going on at home in the lead up to Christmas – the shopping, the Santa lists, the family plans, the Christmas pageants and craft nights at the kids' schools and their church. It was even worse in the days after the holidays to hear about Christmas morning and the excitement and what the kids had gotten – and what they and Kathy had gotten him. Sometimes it hurt listening to it. And, that was when she didn't have a child. She imagined it would be worse for Nick knowing he had a daughter still old enough to be engulfed by the magic but that he was missing most of it – if not all the important parts of it.

So she'd tried not to rub in his face what her and Will and Noah had planned for the holidays. She didn't talk about the NYPD's family holiday party that he didn't get to take Zara to that year. She didn't talk about what Noah asked Santa for and her and Will's difficulties tracking down the Batman Lego set he wanted. She didn't vent about her cluelessness about what to get her husband – AGAIN. She just left it. She didn't want to make him sadder than he clearly already was. But now he was opening the door for her to be snarky back.

"Will's Catholic," she'd snapped back a little more harshly than she'd meant to. "I find a lot of strength in his faith. We both have – with my son. Neither of us is as agnostic as you seem to think."

Nick had made more than one snide remark about where her religious or spiritual leanings may lie. He seemed to think she had something against the Catholic Church, which wasn't true. She had something against pedophiles – any adults who preyed on children and any institution that had mechanisms in place to hide and condone it and to allow it to continue. It wasn't about the Church, itself, even if she did have several differing opinions than what Catholicism deemed as right, moral and just. But she had enough debates and discussions about all of that at home – with Will and with his family. She didn't need to have it at work. She'd had enough years of that with Elliot.

She didn't really care to know about Nick's Catholic upbringing or his thoughts on the Church. Though, he'd been sure to suggest that her perception of the Church based on any comments or criticisms she'd put forth were misguided and unfounded and that it was appropriate that she was married to a mathematician – like that must make Will some sort of hedonist. Will was actually one of the more quietly faithful and spiritual people she'd ever met. He had this thoughts – he had his beliefs. He had things he agreed with from his upbringing in the Church and things he didn't. They fell on the same page for a lot of them. Some of them they didn't. But Will was never one to push his faith or his spirituality on anyone – not her, not her son, not those around him. Some of it spilled over in the way he lived his life – but that's the way she preferred it to be. Live according to your principles and set an example. That's what her husband did. He wasn't a practicing anything. He was just him.

They flirted in-and-out of religion as they spent time with his family. But there was a strength there – a hope and faith – that sometimes counted for something when they needed something to cling to to just get by, even if that just meant they were fooling themselves into thinking that there was reason, direction and purpose behind the things their family was enduring.

Neither of them were the atheists or the agnostics that Nick seemed to like to suggest through little snide remarks. She figured he'd spotted some of her other jewelry – or maybe even items on her husband in their sporadic interactions – and had noticed some of the religious symbolism in the pieces and taken offense to them wearing them but not standing by Christianity or the Catholic Church until death-do-them part. Funny that he'd never commented on her various pieces that had hints of Buddhism or Hinduism symbolism in them. It was always when something came up involving the Church or he noticed a cross or a saint.

He'd let the conversation drop at that point, though – and so had she. It was likely better that way. Of course, though, they'd ended up saddled with a case that involved priests not long after their little spat.

But apparently they were calling all of it a truce for the moment – for Christmas. It really was a good present – even if it wasn't jewelry. Her and Nick had had such a bumpy few months with everything the squad had been through in the spring and them all trying to pick up the pieces and move on during the summer and fall. If the stuff on the work-front wasn't enough – Nick had his own turmoil on the home-front to balance against hers. Putting aside their head butts, their temper flairs and their moments of mistrust and distaste with each other – especially when it meant she could make her flight and not throw her and Will further into their own tiff – seemed like a pretty good present to her.

"Look," she told him, as she pulled her purse up her shoulder and grabbed at her keys. "I have my phone with me. I'm not turning it off. If you need anything …"

"Liv," he held up his hand and gave her the look of a man who knew what marriage and parenthood was about. Nick had his moments of being soft and caring. It made her all that much frustrated that most of the time they didn't seem to get along that well. He got it. It was too bad they couldn't let themselves get each other more – more often. "Enjoy."

She gave him a small smile, though. Maybe they could let the moment follow them into the New Year and they could try again then. It was likely a false Christmas wish in the moment – but there was always the hope.

"Merry Christmas, Nick," she told him sincerely and reached out for a hug – the first she'd tried to give her new partner. But it felt right in the moment – and she thought he likely needed it more than he even knew. She could feel some of the sadness in him in their loose and short embrace. She hoped he'd be OK and she felt almost guilty that her mind was starting to reel more about finding a cab and getting caught up to her husband and son.

"You too, Liv," he told her.

She gave him another smile and another little look and then made for the door. She was barely four steps away from him before she took her quick walk up to a slow jog. She couldn't miss that plane.

She pushed and pushed the elevator button and was just about to head for the stairs when it dinged open and she got it – again giving the lobby button a double-press just to try to encourage the doors to close faster.

She wasn't even out the door of the lobby when she was thumbing at Will's name on her phone and listening to it ring in her ear. He didn't pick up right away. She wondered if they'd already made it to the airport and managed to check in and they were in the security line with his phone off. She hoped he wasn't so mad he was ignoring her.

But finally his voice filled her ear. "Hey," he said. "I'm sorry."

She smiled softly and pushed open the door to the precinct. Her and Will bickered and had their spats. They annoyed and frustrated each other on a near daily basis. But they were both in it for the long haul. Even in the bad there was good. She wouldn't give him up – and she hated disappointing him. She hated when they fought. She loved him and the family they'd created too much to dwell on any of it too long ever.

"It's OK," she told him. "I'm sorry too. I'm coming," she added and glanced up and down the street. She wasn't likely to find a cab on that block, at that time of night, on Christmas Eve. She'd need to go over a couple blocks. "I'm just trying to find a taxi," she told him and started to jog down the block. "I've still got time, right?"

"Yeah," he said and she could feel the happiness in his voice at that. "You're good."

"Yeah?" she said, still working at getting down the street. "The traffic was OK?"

"Yeah," she could feel him nod into the phone. "It wasn't too bad. We're just in line waiting to check in. We'll get out. Go pick out some magazines and snacks instead. Wait for you."

"It's not too crazy there?" she asked again and waved at a cab that whipped by her. She sighed. She was seriously considering pulling her tin.

"It's busy. But it's not crazy," he told her.

"Hmm," she said and tried at another and it again flew by. "Ah. OK. I'm going to get there. I just need to go. I need to take a bit of a jog over to where I can hopefully grab a cab."

"OK," Will said. "You're good. Calm down. You've got time."

She nodded into her own phone. "OK."

"Mommy?" she heard then – clear that Will had handed the phone to their son.

"Hi sweets," she sighed. Just hearing his voice made it hit her that much harder what she could've potentially missed if Nick hadn't stepped in – something he likely knew too well, he was missing it himself. It made it that much clearer how much she needed to get over to JFK as quickly as possible.

"You're coming?" Noah asked.

"I am, sweetheart. I'll be there soon."


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Right There**

**Author: ZombieJazz**

**Fandom: Law & Order: SVU**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. Law and Order SVU and its characters belong to Dick Wolf. The characters of Will (and his family) and Noah have been created and developed for the sake of this AU series.**

**Summary: Episode 10's hand question mark when spun into the AU of Liv/Will/Noah.**

**Author's Notes: This AU series is for SVU fans and readers who want Olivia to have something that resembles a more normal life outside of work and a family of her own - hopefully somewhat realistically within the canon of SVU. This story would be set likely after where Rollercoaster will end when it's wrapped up. **

"You got the warrant? Ahhhh. Great news, Nick," she sighed into the phone from her seat on the plane. She nodded as she listened to his additional wishes of a Merry Christmas and safe travels. "Thank you. OK."

She turned off the phone as the call ended and looked over at Will, as his hand found hers, giving him a smile.

"We can relax now?" he asked quietly.

She gave him a small nod. "Yeah. We can relax now."

She let the phone fall more into her lap and reached up to caress his face, leaning in for a kiss. As they broke apart, she glanced around her husband to the aisle seat and their son – who'd managed to fall asleep while they waited to board, giving her the limited opportunity to claim the window for the moment. She took Noah's little, limp sleeping hand in her free one and gave it a small shake and another smile to Will.

"Merry Christmas," she told him.

He returned the smile and looked over at their little boy too.

"I love you," Will told her. "I'm glad you're here."

**And, for the record, on the show, I think/hope the hand belongs to Cassidy. But I thought the shower scene was Haden. And I hope it's not the same person and some randomly introduced new mystery dude.**

**I'll do my best to have updates for HG and UD soon. Likely going to be one or two HG updates before you see anything from UD.**


End file.
